The Three Gifts
by Kulmanari
Summary: Zack shook his head briefly at how odd Cody was acting before shrugging it off and going back into his room to lay down. It was the last time that Zack ever saw his baby brother. Cody Martin dropped off the face of the planet that very same day…
1. Glass Half Empty

**Chapter One**

**"Glass Half Empty"**

"I'll catch ya later Max!" Zack said to his girlfriend as they parted ways amongst the sea of students moving through the hallway to their next class. It was just after first period at Cheever's High School when seventeen year old Zachary Martin reached his locker and exchanged a few textbooks between it and his backpack. If only Cody could see him now, actually reading school books and studying! A grin split across his face as he conjured up the image of his twin brother staring at him in utter disbelief.

Zack slammed his locker shut, cinched his backpack tighter around his right shoulder and headed off to his absolute most favorite class of the day; Algebra. He searched the passing crowds for a familiar face as he navigated through the mass of bodies trying to make it on time and avoid another detention. Just as he arrived outside of the classroom with a minute to spare Zack froze on the spot and inhaled sharply in surprise as he caught sight of the last thing he'd ever expected to see.

On the other side of the hallway staring back at him and smiling warmly was none other than Cody Martin. His twin was wearing an expensive looking black leather jacket over a white shirt and a pair of loose fitting dark blue denim jeans. Cody looked healthy, in fact he looked fit. Zack rubbed his eyes to make sure that he wasn't just seeing things and felt his heart fall when he returned his gaze to the spot he'd seen his brother standing in and there was no one around. For a few brief seconds Cody had been standing less than fifteen feet away, or had he? Zack looked around the hallway which was thinning out and didn't see Cody anywhere. Had he just been seeing things again?

* * *

_Two Years Ago _

Fifteen year old Zack Martin rolled groggily out of bed and walked like a zombie out of the bedroom he shared with his twin and into the bathroom in the early hours of the morning, his blurry eyes barely open, to relieve his full bladder. When he was finished, Zack washed his hands and wandered back into the living room where his mother was sleeping on the pull out couch and headed for the kitchen. A little snack couldn't hurt could it? It was still about six hours before he was usually up and about anyway, he needed something to hold him over till then.

His search of the fridge was nearly fruitless and he ended up settling on taking a cup of strawberry yogurt with him back to his room, ignoring, but not missing the irony of the whole notion of a fruitless search turning up only strawberry goodness. He was surprised to see a fully dressed Cody walking out of their bedroom with a backpack slung over his shoulder. It was four in the morning, where was he off too?

"Cody? Where are you going? It's too early for you to be going to school, especially on a Saturday," Zack whispered matter of factly, apparently surprising his twin seeing Cody jump in surprise at the sound of his voice.

"Just going out for a walk, I can't sleep," Cody explained jamming his hands into his pockets and leaning against the front door.

"At four in the morning?"

"Yeah well, thought I'd go around the area until sunrise and tire myself out." Cody shrugged nonchalantly. Zack could understand that as he hated not being able to sleep in when he had plenty of time to do so.

"What's with the backpack?"

"What backpack?" Cody wondered and Zack blinked in surprise. Sure enough his twin stood there in an outfit suitable for wandering around town without anything else, not even a backpack. It was too early, Zack decided, he was seeing things.

"Never mind…"

"Okay, well see you later," Cody replied. He hesitated for a moment and then came forward to embrace Zack in gentle hug.

"Whoa man, what's that for?" Zack asked in his most macho voice, playfully struggling against the affection. It wasn't long before Cody let go.

"Nothin," the younger twin answered as he turned and left the suite. Zack shook his head briefly at how odd Cody was acting before shrugging it off and going back into his room to lay down. It was the last time Zack saw his baby brother.

Cody Martin dropped off the face of the planet that very same day…

* * *

_Present Day_

"Yo Zack?" There was a long pause that followed.

"ZACK? You ok man?" Someone had him by the shoulders and was gently shaking him. The action snapped Zack out of his trip down memory lane and he looked up into his best friend's freckled face.

"Yeah, I'm just…" Just what, Zack wondered… Seeing things that aren't there? He couldn't tell Bob, he couldn't tell anyone. They would just say that he was suffering from a relapse of depression caused by his brother's disappearance, put him on some meds and make him see the school's shrink again.

"Gonna be late man," Bob gestured to their class, thankfully ignoring Zack's odd behavior. Most of Zack's friends accepted his weird behavior from time to time, though they kept a close eye on him just in case he decided to do something decidedly foolish.

"Let's go. I'm down for avoiding detention," Zack finally formed a coherent sentence as he led the way with Bob right behind him, thinking about anything but Algebra class.

Two years ago Cody had left the suite to go out 'walking' at four in the morning and he had never been seen or heard from again. Carey and Kurt Martin had searched high and low with Zack everywhere Cody might have gone and checked with all of his friends to see if they'd seen him, but nothing came of the searching. The police got involved, but their limited help eventually turned up nothing.

Cody Martin was officially declared a missing person. He was just another statistic as far as most people involved in the search were concerned, but to his family Cody's disappearance was a tragedy of epic proportions. The younger twin left behind good friends, a depressed brother and devastated parents.

* * *

**A/N:** This idea will NOT get out of my head and is interfering with the writing of my novel, so I adapted it to the Suite Life and here it is! I'm intending to make the chapters shorter than I usually make them and use a different writing style.

Hope you like the beginning! There's more to come as we delve into the mystery surrounding Cody's disappearance.

Stay tuned and please check out my profile and help me win some story awards by nominating/voting for my stories that I have listed in their proper categories!

Thanks for your support!


	2. Party Time

**Chapter Two**

**"Party Time"**

"She's going to be a hard sell…" Zack said, exasperated. He had tried to explain to Max why his mother would be against him going out and partying to no avail. She simply kept insisting that he go home and do anything and everything to win her over.

"You want me to help?" She asked, taking his right arm in her hands as they waited at a crosswalk. The pair were on their way home from school having just gotten off the bus a few blocks away from the Tipton and also the apartment building where Max lived.

"Um…no thanks. Honestly I think you'll seal my fate…" Zack answered, knowing the kind of friction his girlfriend could generate when talking to other women. They hurriedly crossed the street as the signal lit up on the other side.

"Yeah right, your mom likes me a lot!" Max protested in mock anger.

"I know, it's just that she thinks I'll get kidnapped or something like Cody." Zack felt a twinge of concern as he remembered the image of his twin standing in the hallway outside Algebra class that morning. He almost missed what Max said next, briefly absorbed in his thoughts.

"Speaking of Cody, Bob said you were acting funny this morning. You weren't…?"

"No, no I'm fine. I just saw a really hot chick walk by or something…" Max slapped him playfully on the arm as he told this lie, "Ouch!"

"Your eyes belong solely on my body now Zachary Martin," She said rather seductively, chasing away thoughts of his encounter with his twin. He looked over at her with a raised eyebrow, it was such a ridiculous looking glance that it made her burst into a fit of giggles. Zack stopped walking, pecked her on the cheek with a kiss and then continued on towards home.

"Okay, I'll try talking to my mom. Just for you."

"Aw, that's so sweet! You're such a big softie."

"Must be all of those doughnuts I've been eating..."

* * *

Half an hour later Zack let himself into the Suite on the twenty third floor of the Tipton Hotel where he lived with his mother and made a bee line for the kitchen immediately after dropping off his backpack inside the door and greeting Carey Martin. Zack gathered together the necessary materials he needed to make a bologna and cheese sandwich. He was doing this to give himself some time to think of a way to approach his mom and also because his stomach was growling hungrily.

"How was your day sweetie?"

"Uh, it was ok. Max and I got invited today," Zack responded, caught off guard by her sudden interest and deciding that it was best to just get right to the point.

"Invited to what?"

"A party… One of Max's friends' wants us to come over tomorrow night." Tomorrow was Friday which meant that Carey might be more inclined to let him go seeing as how it wasn't a school night. Glancing over the counter, Zack felt his heart sink as he saw his mother bite her lip in concentration. She was trying hard not to be an overprotective mother and let her remaining son stretch his wings a bit.

"Are all of your friends going to be there?"

"Most of them."

"I don't know…"

"Come on mom, I won't forget the 'Don't list'!" Zack exclaimed, referring to Carey's major rules regarding him going out on his own or with Max. Don't drink alcohol, smoke, do drugs, get into fights, have sex and most importantly don't wander away from public places. That last rule came into glaring effect after Cody's disappearance.

"Well…"

"Come on mom, I'll be fine. There's going to be a ton of people that I know at the party." Zack fought to hold back a grin as he saw his mother starting to crack.

"Alright Zack, you can go, but you're taking the car and you're to be back before midnight," Carey finally relented, getting up from the couch and walking over to hug her son.

"Thanks mom."

"Just don't forget the list. It's there to keep you safe and to keep you from getting abducted like your brother." Zack opened his mouth to ask her something along the lines of what made her so sure that Cody hadn't just been fed up with his family and walked out on them and then snapped it shut as he thought better of it. He'd won a small victory getting her permission, it wouldn't do well to get into a stupid argument with her. Still, Zack was left to wonder as he had many times whether or not Cody had left of his own free will. The memory of his twin walking out the door two years ago before the sun had come up came back to him with glaring intensity.

* * *

Donald McKenzie took a long drag of his cigarette, letting the smoke fill his lungs for a precious few seconds before exhaling the poisonous mixture. He surreptitiously checked his watch for what must have been the hundredth time that night. It read 9:38 PM, which meant that it was almost time for the show to begin.

In a scant seven minutes the guard shift at Capital Highlands Bank in downtown Boston was due to change over. The two day guards would be relieved by their counterparts who worked until just after six in the morning. Once the changeover was complete and Donald had waited a set period of time to be sure the day shift wouldn't be coming back having forgotten something, he would signal his team to begin the heist. The Highlands Bank was currently loaded, poorly guarded, wasn't in a public place and no one would notice the missing money until Monday morning when it reopened, by then Don and his team hoped to be far away from this place.

A single car pulled into the bank's parking lot and one of the relief guards got out and made his way into the building. Now he just had to wait for the other one to arrive and let perhaps thirty minutes slide by before he would walk through the doors and claim another small fortune. He turned to look over at the person sitting in the passenger seat, half hidden in shadow and was startled to find the teenage boy glaring daggers at him.

"You all set up Cody?"

The teen's reply came back clipped and dripping with venom, "Yes."

* * *

**A/N: **You didn't think Cody would remain absent for long now did you? Hehe!

Some of you are already hitting home runs with your ideas. You know me so well! We'll start seeing 'The Three Gifts' starting in the next chapter.

Thanks for all the wonderful reviews, PM's and well wishes for those of us over here in the sandbox. Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Now, I'm off to see the fruit of our cook's hard labor.


	3. The Bank Job

**Chapter Three**

**"The Bank Job"**

Donald McKenzie glanced down at his watch again for what he hoped was the last time as it read 10:30 PM. The security guards at Capital Highlands Bank had successfully completed their shift change and were now entrenched behind the main counter in the lobby. It was time for the heist to begin, but unlike nearly all other bank robberies this one would go down without anyone being the wiser. He didn't call his group of like minded individuals the Ghost Team for nothing.

"It's time," Don said aloud to the teen sitting moodily next to him, "We good to go?"

"I already said yes," Cody snapped angrily and opened the passenger door. Ignoring the boy's attitude the older man copied the move and was soon leading the way towards a large black sedan parked a few car lengths behind them. He put up with the teen's behavior well enough, so long as Cody didn't jeopardize operations, simply because he had to. The boy was damn near irreplaceable and already aggravated by being kept away from his family, no good would come from further antagonizing him.

One man McKenzie's age and two women exited the sedan as they approached. One of the women was Jessica, Don's younger sister; the other was a teenage girl a little older than Cody who went by the name of Sara.

"Camera's are looped, phone service is shut off and the alarms are dead in the water," The other man, Tristan, reported gesturing to the laptop sitting in his recently vacated seat which was pulling the live feeds wirelessly from the bank's security cameras and also sending back a fake loop to cover the thief's tracks. A lot of planning had gone into this job, and now it was time for the pay off.

"Very good, lets do this." Don said, turning to face the entrance to the bank. With Cody by his side, anyone looking towards them would fail to see anything suspicious. He smirked at that thought, ordinary people were woefully unprepared to face Don and those like him.

* * *

Cody followed along in his captor's wake, completely disinterested in the whole operation. He was no criminal, the younger twin wanted no part in this. It was only Donald's threat of harming Cody's family that kept him in line. The man had been powerful and well connected when he'd first met him, but now Donald McKenzie was nearly unstoppable as far as Cody was concerned. If Cody betrayed his captor, tried to escape or refused to cooperate Don would make the phone call and within a half hour the hit team he'd hired would take out Zack, Carey and Kurt Martin with extreme prejudice.

"Final checks, what have we got ladies?" Donald asked as the group crossed the street. Both girls seemed to look off into space for a moment, briefly zoning out and then Sara spoke up first.

"There's four people in the building. The two security guards, someone working in an office and a janitor cleaning the men's restrooms."

"One guard is watching a movie on a portable DVD player, the other one is reading a magazine and he's falling asleep. They're not paying much attention to the lobby," Jessica added with more detail.

"I'll take the guards," Don said, and then to Tristan, "You find the guy in the office and the janitor."

"Got it."

"Pay day!" Donald said in supreme confidence as they approached the bank doors. There was a clicking noise as the deadbolts seemed to open of their own accord and Don opened the clear glass door, stepping into the decidedly spartan lobby. The two guards looked up from their entertainment at the noise, and saw exactly what they expected to see; an empty lobby and locked doors.

Cody winced as Donald used his gift to yank the chairs out from underneath the unsuspecting security guards and help accelerate their fall so that they were immediately knocked unconscious. Don, Jess and Sara moved towards the rear of the bank and went to work on the vault while Cody remained in the lobby watching Tristan hunt down the remaining people in the building. The teenager struggled with the effort of using his own gift to keep any would be observers from seeing what was going on inside.

As far as anyone on the outside was concerned, the bank's door was still shut tight and locked from the inside, there were two alert guards sitting behind the main counter and there was no sign of the intruders in the building. Cody was also working hard to maintain his protection around his captors as they broke into the safe and subdued the other two people who worked there, rendering them invisible to the ordinary eye.

"All clear!" Tristan announced as he returned from a side hallway leading to multiple sterile offices. As the twenty seven year old convict, charged with multiple counts of grand theft auto came back to the main counter he quickly put the chairs Don had ripped away back in their places and hefted the guards back into their respective seats and arranged their bodies so that it looked like they had simply fallen asleep. There was nothing that he could do about the bumps on their heads.

"Good! We're at five minutes, hurry up and help us load the bags Tristan," Donald commanded from deeper in the bank where he and the girls were busy stuffing bags full of cash from the vault. Though it was more sophisticated than the bank's entrance, the leader of the Ghost's had defeated the vault's locking mechanism with ease.

Cody simply stood next to the counter, pulled a small bottle of water out of his pocket and swallowed a couple of Ibuprofen's to help ward off the headache forming due to the strain of using his gift on such a large scale. At seven minutes the team was sealing up the vault and making last minute checks to make sure they had left no clues behind. At eight minutes they were walking out the front door with untold amounts of money in hand.

Half of the bags were loaded into Don's SUV while the other half was put in the trunk of the sedan. Cody staggered as he joined the group, feeling a wave of nausea overcome him. He was at his limit now, if he didn't scale back his power usage he'd black out.

"Alright, you all know the drill. Get the hell out of here before Cody drops," Donald said, steadying the teen and then helping him get into the backseat of the SUV. He and his sister got up front while Tristan and Sara took the sedan. They would split up, drive around for awhile, stop at a public place to get some late night fast food dinner, drive around some more to ensure that no one was following them and then finally head to the safe house and count their haul.

"We're good now Cody. Nice work back there." Donald announced as they sped away from the bank. The younger twin immediately stopped using his gift and felt a wave of immense relief pass over him as the nausea vanished and the pressure of the headache eased up.

"So what's for dinner?" Jessica asked conversationally as Cody closed his eyes and willed himself into a power nap, determined to escape his criminal reality for a little while.

* * *

**A/N:** So here we see the bank robbery go off with no one the wiser thanks to the three gifts used by the perpetrators. Let the guessing game begin! All three gifts were used, now who possesses which gift and what are they called? (As in a class, like MMORGP's Wizard, Warlock, Druid etc) See if anyone comes close! Details won't be revealed just yet, because it's time for Zack and Max to go to their party =)

On a side note you all may have noticed the length / quality is not up to my usual standards. This is due to the fact that I'm working on my novel and this story keeps getting in the way so I'm trying to jot down a section of it every day before I go to bed or after I wake up. As soon as I finish, it gets a quick read over and I share it with you. Totally different from my normal process, but I think you all will like the story just the same.

Thanks for reading everyone!


	4. Chapter Four

**Chapter Four**

Friday afternoon Zack found himself home from school and thinking about the brief appearance of his missing brother at school the day earlier. Everyone thought that Cody had just gone out for a walk and had been abducted, or worse… Zack however maintained that his twin had run away from home, why he didn't know. He kept this opinion to himself however, knowing that if his mother heard about it she would be even more devastated.

"So why did you leave?" Zack asked the blown up picture of his twin's smiling face taken on their fifteenth birthday. Carey Martin had made a sort of monument to her missing child on the wall opposite the kitchen made up of pictures, personal affects and even presents stacked on either side from birthdays and Christmas's missed awaiting to be opened when and if Cody ever came home again. It was here that the older twin found himself sitting in the chair facing the desk that held all of these things.

"Were we a burden on your bright future? A poor mother, a father who isn't around as much as we'd like him to be and a loser brother with no outlook on life?" Zack asked angrily, strongly believing that this might be a possibility. If he wasn't crazy and Cody had really been there at school, then why didn't he even stick around long enough to say hello? Cody had often complained about these things in his life, but Zack had always believed that his little brother was managing in spite of those handicaps. Maybe he had been wrong?

"Or maybe you thought you were being noble or something, reducing the burden of yourself on the family." Zack wasn't really sure about this idea. Cody was a selfless person yes, but he was also kind and caring. He knew what his disappearance would do to his family and everyone else who cared about him. There was no way Cody would run out on his family without a word unless it was life or death and that's what made Zack's first assumption seem so unlikely.

"Then again maybe I'm wrong and you really were abducted by some maniac in which case I failed you and it's all my damn fault. Maybe you're even dead by now, god I have no idea…" Zack ranted feeling a strong surge of emotions threatening to overwhelm him. He looked over all of the pictures of Cody, seeing himself in most of them and then touched some of his brother's personal affects. There were awards, trophies, letters written home when he'd been at camp and a multitude of other things, even his Blankie was among them.

His eyes came to rest on the large center picture of Cody smiling again and Zack felt a sudden surge of anger. The anger wasn't directed at Cody this time, he was mad at anyone who had ever harmed him. Zack still loved his twin, but sometimes he just missed him so damn much that it hurt like hell.

* * *

"You want to visit your family don't you?" Donald asked, rousing Cody from the cat nap he'd been taking on the sofa in the den of the safe house. The teen opened his eyes and looked hopefully up at his captor.

"Yes, I figured while we were in Boston…" Cody started before Donald cut him off.

"The answer is no. There would be too many questions." He glared at the man and tried to fight down the anger that boiled up inside of him. Cody's gift was very rare and extremely useful in a variety of situations, but in a straight up fight Donald's gift would easily overpower him. He couldn't run either, Jessica and Sara would easily track him down before he got more than a mile away.

"I really do hate you," Cody seethed, crossing his arms and using his gift to wreck havoc on the house. The television's screen exploded into a shower of sparks, the overhead lights started flickering, a ceiling fan came crashing down next to Don and the carpet burst into a spectacular fire.

"You've been practicing!" Donald complimented and then walked off through the undamaged house. Cody huffed in annoyance and sank back into the couch.

A smirk crossed his face as he remembered defying his captor the other day right under the man's very nose. They had been conducting surveillance on the bank while Cody had stayed in the SUV reading a book. He had easily fooled them and slipped away to Cheevers High School which was only a few blocks away and managed to catch a glimpse of his older brother.

Cody marveled at how much his brother had changed over the years they had been separated and his momentary lapse cost him. It was already difficult for him to continue fooling his captors over long distance, hiding himself from everyone at the school strained his abilities which let Zack briefly see him during his loss of concentration. It was dangerous for them to make contact as Donald's hit team kept constant tabs on the whereabouts of Cody's family, had the younger twin's picture memorized and were ordered to kill them all if they caught Cody with them.

* * *

**A/N:** A tad short, but important nonetheless. Was all I had written today. We got into Zack's head for a little while and learned a little more about the gifts. Hope you enjoyed!


	5. Divine Intervention

**A/N:** Okay, I hate using them at the beginning of a chapter, but I had to clear up a few things. Donald is much older than Cody, and as our younger twin is pretty good at using his gift at seventeen and has been for presumably two years prior to that, it's a safe bet to say Don has had his powers since the same age. By Cody's own thoughts we learn the man is very powerful (double edged sword meaning both with his gift and because he has resources, primarily lots of money) and is very well connected. By Donald's own thoughts we learn that Cody's gift is extremely rare and highly valued, which is the only reason he puts up with the teen's attitude.

Now then, a powerful and connected man like Donald would presumably have been making several small fortunes here and there before finding Cody. Since using Cody enables him to make several large fortunes on a regular basis, and the fact that Cody isn't taking a cut of the money as he is an unwilling accomplice, it would make sense for Donald to protect all of his assets, which includes Cody's gift. He would have more than enough money to pay for a hit team, or two, or three, you get my point… Now yes, they probably aren't on the Martin family 24/7, but you can be sure they're close by and Cody strongly believes Donald's threats. Any betrayal, refusal to cooperate, escape attempt or making contact with his family will result in their deaths.

Also, many have figured out the gifts by now and I will soon explain them in better detail and name their classes. There is however some confusion when it comes to Cody. When I wrote that he destroyed the den of the safe house in the last chapter, you'll notice Donald doesn't care, compliments him on his practicing and then walks off through the undamaged house, key word 'undamaged'. Cody can't actually do any of the things that were seen, that's Donald's realm of power, but he can make people believe what he wants them to see.

Hope that clears some of it up, now onto the story!

* * *

**Chapter Five**

**"Divine Intervention"**

"I've been crawling through the dark looking for the answer!!!" Zack sang in tune with the music blaring from the car speakers as he drove himself and Max to the party. An old boyfriend of hers from middle school, David, had invited them to have some fun. There was no real occasion, they were simply teenagers after all.

"You've been singing that since we were in middle school," Max chided him as they pulled up to a red light, moved into the left hand turning lane and came to a stop.

"Is there something more than what I've been handed?" He turned briefly to face Max and sung over her criticism. She just smiled and shook her head at his goofy attitude.

"It is one of mine and Cody's all time favorites," Zack explained, turning the volume down and glancing at the directions he'd printed out from the internet. Satisfied that he was on course, Zack turned left onto a side street when the light went green and started looking around for David's house.

"I didn't know he was into this stuff," Max commented, double checking the address she had written down and looking out the passenger window to help him find the place.

"My brother had a wild side, but you'd never know it if you didn't live with him. Here we are!"

"Typical, nowhere to park," She complained. There were cars scattered all over the place taking up all the free space around David's house so that he had to drive further down the street and park.

The couple exited and quickly walked down the sidewalk, already hearing the booming noise of a powerful stereo subwoofer. This was definitely the place! After finding Max's old boyfriend standing out front smoking a cigarette and greeting him, they entered the house.

Good music blared from the powerful stereo system and on the tables and countertops were a smattering of foods and drinks. Pizza, chips and soda's dominated the table space, but for once in his life Zack's first priority wasn't to fill his stomach. He immediately swept up Max and started dancing with her along with several others in the wide open living space. _'Wish you were here with me having some fun Cody,'_ Zack thought as he let Max's hypnotic dancing and the catchy music sweep him off into a daze.

* * *

They were on their way back from meeting with some of Donald's contacts who provided the man with some important information when Cody suddenly jerked upright in the back seat of the SUV. He looked around in confusion for a moment, Don eying him suspiciously through the rear view mirror as he drove. Cody was certain that he had heard someone speak his name with a desperate longing for his presence.

"Did you say something?" Cody finally asked Donald and Jessica.

"Nope, what's up kid?" Don wondered, glancing at his younger sister to gauge her reaction.

"Nothing, just a feeling…" He trailed off, letting his head fall against the driver's side rear window and stared out at Boston as it blurred by, gradually turning into an area full of suburbs.

"You know that the gifted aren't just one trick ponies right? We all can utilize the other two gifts that we are not born with on a very limited scale." Donald explained, slowing the vehicle greatly and listening intently to the teenager.

"If you are hearing something that I can't, it probably means that there's another gifted calling out to you. Your kind is better attuned to that sort of thing," Jessica continued, turning around in her seat to study him. Donald's Ghost Team was always on the lookout to acquire more gifted people, voluntarily or involuntarily. The twin knew what they were thinking. They were hoping that he was hearing the call of another person with the same gift as him. Cody was a rare find, but possessing two people with the same ultra rare gift would allow Donald to expand his operations immensely.

"I don't know…" He started, worried that they might be right and not desiring to condemn another person to the same fate as him.

"Come on Cody, concentrate. Point us in a direction," Jessica coaxed. He was just about to become difficult when he felt another surge of emotion from the distant source. Whoever it was, they were no longer feeling jovial. They were in great danger and reaching out for help. Cody could not ignore the feeling and it was with a defeated slump to his shoulders that he pointed to the left down a suburban side street.

* * *

Zack and Max were almost back to Carey's car, the party was still going on but it was getting late and neither of them wanted to incur the wrath of his mother, when a group of people came up the sidewalk and stopped next to the car. He wasn't racist by any means, but he noticed that the other young men were all black and he wasn't getting a warm and fuzzy from them right now. Max pressed tighter against him, worried about what might happen next.

"This your car white boy?" The leader of the small gang asked.

"Yeah."

"Well it's on my sidewalk punk! Tell you what though, give up the keys and the girl and we'll let you walk away." Zack pushed Max behind him and stood defiantly in front of them. There was no way in hell that he was about to let them take Max anywhere without a fight. They might hurt her, or worse, rape her.

"I don't think so."

"Bitch! Don't make me cap your ass!" The leader exclaimed, pulling a gun out and aiming it at them. Zack froze as his vision tunneled on the weapon in alarm. He desperately cried out in his head for help, hoping that someone, maybe even god was listening to his prayers right now.

"Three…two…one…" The young man counted down ominously. _'NO!'_ Zack screamed out in his head, hoping against hope that something, anything would stop the guy from shooting them. He watched in utter dismay as the car door suddenly opened of its own accord and slammed into the back of the gunman's legs. The weapon went off with a thunderous boom, fortunately aimed into the sky as he was knocked off his feet by the sudden impact.

"Run!" Max prompted amid the confusion and they immediately turned around. Before they could even take a few steps, they heard tires squealing and several police officers came running up the sidewalk. Zack and Max took cover as the cops drew their weapons and advanced on the gang members.

"Shit it's the po po!" One of the other guys exclaimed, drawing his own pistol along with the rest of his gang.

"Put the guns down and place your hands behind your heads!" An officer commanded in an oddly familiar voice.

"Whoa, who stole my piece?"

"Put the guns down NOW!"

"Fuck you!"

Max cringed and Zack shielded her with his body, pulling them both further underneath the rear bumper of another car as the gang opened fire on the police. The deafening noise seemed to go on forever, and then finally when it was over he picked up his head and his jaw dropped in surprise. The police were still standing and completely unharmed.

"What…?"

One of the cops opened fire with two shots, immediately taking down the leader of the gang along with another of his goons. The rest bugged out and made a run for it, the police chasing after them.

"Are you ok Zack?" The same familiar voice he had heard earlier suddenly ask him. He looked around to the source of the voice and froze in shock. There, right before his eyes was the person he had sought seemingly in vein for the last two years…

"Cody!!!" Zack leapt up to embrace his long lost twin. He immediately stopped moving at the sight of the pistol his brother held in his right hand. What the hell?

"It isn't safe. You've got to leave, NOW!" Cody commanded, pointing at Carey's car. At the same time Zack followed his brother's gesture, he saw the police officers who had rescued him and Max dissipate into nothingness.

"What the…? Cody, what…?"

"I'm an Illusionist Zack, now please, leave before they see us together and decide to hurt you." With those last words Cody took off running. Zack wouldn't stand for this, Cody had some explaining to do and he immediately gave chase after his brother with a shocked Max in tow.

Zack chased Cody for perhaps thirty seconds before his twin dissipated into thin air just like the police had. He looked around wildly, searing for his brother and saw nothing except for a black SUV speeding away. What the hell was going on? What had they just seen? Where did Cody go and why didn't he want to be with Zack?

* * *

**A/N:** Gotcha! So what does all of this mean? And, now we've learned the name of one of the gifted classes and seen more of what it can do. Cody is an Illusionist =)

Hope you enjoyed!


	6. Discovery

**Chapter Six**

**"Discovery"**

_Two years ago…_

"Oh come on Zack it won't be so bad!" Max tried to encourage the older twin.

"Yeah, lots of people see psychologists all the time and lead normal lives," Cody added as the three teenagers walked towards the school's administration building. They were on their way to get a free evaluation provided by a local clinic that specialized in treating the mentally ill which had partnered with Cheevers High School.

"I just don't want some dude psycho-analyzing me," Zack responded, looked up thoughtfully and then said, "That is a word isn't it?"

"It'll be cool. I'm going first anyway, what are you afraid of?" The younger twin chided, reaching the door first and holding it open for his brother and friend.

* * *

_Present day_

"So let me get this straight," Donald started as he, Jessica and Cody entered the safe house together, "We follow your instincts to another possible gifted only for you to bail out of the vehicle, run off and nearly get shot up by those gangsters?"

"Yes." He didn't want them to see Zack there. Cody had no idea what would have happened. Hell, he was still confused by the whole event himself. How had he known to be there right when Zack needed rescuing? His brother wasn't gifted, Donald had secretly examined him long ago in the hope that the older twin was an Illusionist just like Cody and was disappointed that Zack was an ordinary person.

"And then you come running back empty handed? Those punks killed whoever it was?"

"Yes." Another lie…

"And you somehow blocked Jess from seeing through your eyes?"

"I guess, yes." Cody steeled himself for what was coming, feeling the increase in pressure on his body before Donald threw him backwards onto the floor with a mere thought. He hissed in pain as the pistol he had stolen from the gangsters dug into the small of his back where it was concealed in the waistband of his jeans and further hidden underneath the jacket he wore. It might come in handy to be armed, because Cody didn't think the outcome of this confrontation with Donald was going to be pretty.

"You're damn lucky Jess stopped me from ordering the hit right then and there!" Donald raged.

"You mean you're lucky that she stopped you from doing something stupid and losing your prized possession?" Cody snapped, propping himself up on his elbow. He again steeled himself as Donald angrily threw him into the wall.

* * *

_Two years ago…_

Cody stepped into the little office just off to the left of the administration building's entrance and immediately looked into the face of a man in his thirties. His dark brown hair was short and neatly trimmed, face clean shaven and he presented an overall professional appearance. The man stood up from his chair behind the desk that separated them and offered the teen his hand.

"Dr. Donald McKenzie, and you must be Cody Martin," The doctor introduced himself. Cody gave Mr. McKenzie a firm handshake and sat down in the chair offered to him.

"Good to meet you sir," Cody responded politely.

"You're quite the student from what I hear."

"I try hard," He said, trying hard not to blush.

"That's very commendable. So now, let's make this as quick and painless as possible," The doctor said, smiling slightly.

"Alright, shoot."

"So Cody, have you ever had a really strong out of body experience? Almost as though you were looking through another person's eyes?"

* * *

_Present day_

"I don't know what to think Max…" Zack sighed, relaxing back into the driver's seat of his mom's car. He'd called Carey from the parking garage to let her know that he was back, but wanted to talk to his girlfriend for awhile. He wasn't ready to discuss what had just happened a mere thirty something minutes ago.

"It really was Cody, you're not crazy Zack, I saw him too," Max once again confirmed what he had seen.

"Two years Max…two years and out of the blue he shows up and guns down two people."

"People who were trying to rob and hurt us Zack! You'd protect Cody just as fiercely if he were in trouble, I know you would." He could do nothing more than nod at her statement. Of course he'd protect his baby brother, but he'd already failed at doing just that hadn't he? Cody hadn't stuck around after the shooting, he had warned Zack against being near him in case someone saw them and decided to hurt them both. Obviously this meant that Cody was being coerced and was an unwilling accomplice in whatever his captors had him doing. There was no other explanation. Cody wouldn't just leave his twin like that.

"What happened Max? The police and then Cody, they just vanished into thin air right when I was looking at them."

"I don't know…I wish I did…" Max said bitterly, hurt because her missing friend had left again and also because Zack was in pain.

"He called himself something right? Cody said that he was an Illusionist. What the hell does that mean?"

* * *

_Two years ago…_

Fifteen minutes after walking into the office and meeting with Dr. McKenzie, Cody was preparing to leave. He stood up and shook the man's hand once again. It really hadn't been as bad as Zack was thinking that it was. The psychologist had asked a multitude of interesting, and some unusual, multi-part questions. He seemed quite satisfied with the results.

"Well Cody, this has been a very productive meeting."

"Seems like it, that was an intriguing line of questioning," Cody agreed, feeling like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders.

"I'll bet! Well young man, I'll be around until the end of next week when I've finished interviewing the rest of your grade. I'd like to do a follow up meeting with you."

"Is there something wrong with me?" Cody asked in confusion.

"Not that I can tell, in fact you're quite 'gifted' and I would like to talk to you more about career paths," Mr. McKenzie eased his fears quickly.

"Oh, well that sounds good. When do you want me to come back?"

* * *

**A/N:** Dun, Dun, Dun! Tell me, what do you think? Pretty heavy huh?

Thanks for reading!


	7. Deal or No Deal

**Chapter Seven**

**"Deal or No Deal"**

Cody cringed in pain as Donald hit him with another wave of pressurized air, acutely aware of the psychic energies swirling around the room preparing for another punishing blow. The next one caught him on the chin and snapped his head back to the point where it hit the wall he had collapsed against. For a brief moment his vision tunneled, he saw stars dance across his field of view and then Cody smelled the distinctive odor of iron. His nose was bleeding.

"What did I tell you about lying to me?" Donald thundered, towering over Cody, condensing the air around the teenager making it harder to breathe. The older man's power built up again and then he sent another attack at Cody. This time however, it was deflected away so that it collided with the dining room table off to the side, overturning it with a terrific crash.

"Stop it Donald, you'll kill him!" Tristan exclaimed as he and Sara entered the safe house from their supply run. Cody fiercely blinked the tears out of his eyes, grateful for the momentary reprieve. He would have been far angrier with his captor had Cody not been continually telling himself that he was protecting his family by lying and enduring this punishment.

"Who do you think you are?" Donald yelled at Tristan, turning his power against the younger man. Tristan pushed back fiercely, holding him at bay. While not as powerful as Donald, he had the same gift which allowed him to stand up to the leader of the team.

"I am a man interested in power, just like you. If you want to get ahead in this new world you need an Illusionist and look how long it took for us to find Cody!"

"If you kill Cody, we all might as well give up and join the Dragon. Their organization spans across the known world, they have been around for hundreds of years and they only have a few Illusionists," Sara added, making sure to stand behind Tristan as she would be just as vulnerable as Cody to attack.

"They're right, we're just a collection of mid level gifted without him," Jessica chimed in, placing a gentle hand on Donald's shoulder. The man huffed angrily and let go of his power, freeing an extremely irate Cody. They were so concerned about what he could do for them that they wouldn't kill him. It gave him an idea.

"I want to see my family," Cody hissed angrily, turning into the wall and using it to help him get to his feet. He simultaneously gathered his psychic energy and prepared to tap into his gift. His power should have nearly regenerated to full intensity by now.

"I already said no," Donald replied, his back still turned to the young Illusionist. His mind made up, Cody acted rather recklessly, though he believed that it was out of necessity.

"NOW!" Cody thundered, reaching into the back of his waist band, grabbing the loaded pistol and placing the barrel of the weapon against the jugular vein underneath the chin aiming upward at his skull. At the same time he created half a dozen illusions in the den, spawning several copies of himself all holding the gun in the same position. He stepped away from his original position, masking his movement behind mental trickery and reappeared in a different spot along with several more copies of himself around the room. It made it hard for Donald to find the real him, especially with Cody broadcasting his illusions at full power and would help the teen prove a point.

"What do you think you're doing?" Donald asked in an exasperated tone, the weave of psychic power reforming around him as he addressed Cody.

"The only thing that keeps me going is the hope that I will be able to visit my family. If you deny me that, then I have no reason to live anymore," Cody stated flatly. At he finished speaking, he held out the real gun keeping it masked from his captor and fired at the ceiling. One of the copies of Cody holding the weapon to its neck dropped like an unstrung puppet in synch to the thunderous boom, blood spraying over the carpet and pooling beneath the body.

"Very convincing, now quit playing around and drop the gun!"

"Not until you let me see me family!" Donald spun around, homing in on the source of Cody's voice as his illusions weren't able to replicate sound and unleashed his gift. The older man first watched in satisfaction as the Illusionist was lifted off his feet and sent backwards through the sliding glass window that lead out to the patio and then his expression turned to horror as the gun went off again, snuffing out the life of the teenager. All of the copies faded from view and a stunned silence fell over the den. Donald should have known better, like Cody had, that even the incredible speed of his gift was no match for the velocity of the human nerve conduction which made the teen's finger pull the trigger in a knee jerk reaction.

"You idiot, look what you've done!" Tristan screamed in disbelief, looking down upon Cody's broken body laying in a pool of his own blood.

"What harm was there in letting him see his family before we left!" Sara cried, tears coming to the corners of her eyes at the loss of a comrade, however unwilling he might have been.

"I didn't mean too… I just didn't think…" Donald stuttered, his body rigid with shock.

"You kidnapped him from his family and more importantly separated him from his twin brother. How would you feel if the Dragon Order abducted me and made me work for them?" Jessica chided him. She walked over to the destroyed glass door leading to the patio and hunched down as she attempted to pass through it, avoiding the jagged edges of the remaining glass in the frame. Unfortunately she bumped into thin air, and then the glass door reformed into an undamaged state. Cody's body still lay on the other side, riddled with fragments of glass.

"What the hell?" Jess cursed as Donald smiled savagely.

"My, my, our little Illusionist is getting quite good!" He spun around to face the den and saw Cody glaring daggers at him from the center of the room, gun still pressed against his head and neck.

"Just a couple of hours, and then I'll go quietly with you," Cody laid out his terms on the table. Donald would never let him go, and if he tried to run his family would be in grave danger, so it only made sense to offer the man a deal that worked to his advantage as well as pacifying Cody.

"Just let him go for god's sake! Two hours and then we'll be on our way to the airport!" Tristan said, obviously flustered by how well Cody had tricked them all. Such was an Illusionist's power, and Cody hadn't even begun to realize his full potential yet according to what he knew about the Dragon Order's Illusionists.

"FINE!" Donald gave in with a disgusted yell, "Go see your damn family and when it's over I expect there to be no more problems out of you, understand?"

"Perfectly."

"Tristan, Sara, go take him where he wants to go since you care so much about his emotional well being. Jess and I will pack up the place and meet you in a few hours."

Cody slowly lowered the gun as he felt Donald's power dissipate and tucked it back in the waistband of his jeans. No one bothered telling him to leave it behind. Just as they couldn't risk Cody's life, the Illusionist couldn't do anything to them for fear of retribution against Mom, Dad and Zack.

Zack… _'I'm coming big brother! God how I've missed you!'_

_

* * *

_

**A/N:** Well now, looks like Cody has bargained his future cooperation for a visit with his family. What will happen when the separated twins meet face to face again? Also, Cody demonstrated his current powers very well. At his full strength he can trick his captors and put on quite a good show. There are limits though, as he can't recreate sound. What other strengths and weaknesses does Cody's gift have? What is the Dragon Order that they mention? Stay tuned, you'll find out that and more as I begin to unveil the other two gifts."


	8. Sins of the Father

**Chapter Eight**

**"Sins of the Father"**

Zack was sprawled out on his bed fully clothed and far from tired. His mind kept replaying the night's events as he listened to the beat of the rock music playing from his small stereo. He hadn't told his mother what he had seen, mainly because he knew it would be painful for her and also because Zack wasn't sure if what he had seen was real. Max had come up with him for awhile to look on the internet and see what they could find on the word 'Illusionist' but all they had come up with was stuff about movies, books and games. Nothing that seemed to be related to his brother…

"I'm heading out now Zack!" Carey called from the living room. She had another late night performance to do downstairs before calling it quits for the night.

"Cya later mom," He replied obligatory. As the sound of the door shutting reached his ears, Zack rolled over onto his stomach, buried his face in the pillow and moaned in frustration. All he wanted was a sign or an affirmation that he was or wasn't crazy. All he wanted to know was whether or not Cody was truly alive and well or if he had passed away and Zack was just creating these fantasies to fill the gaping void left in his life by the loss of his twin. He knew these thoughts were absurd though… Max had been there with him and she would never lie to him about something like that.

Loud and poor quality music suddenly blared in his ear, fighting the stereo for dominance, and Zack picked his head up as he reached over to his nightstand and retrieved his phone. Glancing at the display he felt his spirits lift a little bit as he saw that Kurt Martin was calling him. He rolled back over onto his back and answered the call.

"Sup Dad!" Zack asked, forcing himself to sound like his usual macho self.

"Hey Zacko, look I need you to listen to me very carefully," The powerful and commanding voice of his father said as soon as Zack had picked up.

"Ok…" This was an unusual way for him to start a conversation with his son and it made Zack worry that something was wrong.

"I need you to get your mother and get out of Boston time yesterday."

"Dad what is…?" Zack started to ask.

"Don't ask questions, just get out of the city NOW!"

"Um…ok…?"

"Look Zachary, I can't explain right now. I have to go. Stay away from the Dragon Order. They found me again and if they did that, then they know where you are too." Just like that his father hung up and a bewildered Zack was left laying there on the bed for several seconds. Leave the city? Dragon Order? What the hell was going on?

"Now what?" Zack asked the empty room as he heard a knock on the door to the suite. He got up and walked into the living room, "I'm coming!" He added as the visitor knocked again impatiently. Zack was greeted by the sight of three well dressed men all in their late twenties or early thirties. Immediately he knew that these three people were not to be trifled with.

"Zachary Thomas Martin?" The man in the center of the group asked.

"Yeah…"

"Ah, good evening young man. I'm Special Agent Cruz with the FBI," He said, digging out his credentials and displaying them for Zack to see. After tucking them back into his pocket, Cruz extended his hand and Zack shook it. "Agents Ramirez and Lopez," Cruz added, gesturing to his companions.

"How can I help you sir?" Zack wondered, feeling an irrational pang of fear course through him. Was this about the shooting? There was no way the local police had even begun piecing things together, let alone have time for them to ask for federal help.

"We're investigating the disappearance of one Cody Mitchell Martin. May we come in?" Relief flooded through Zack as he heard these words. These men weren't after him, they were here to help him find his twin brother!

"Sure," Zack stepped aside and allowed the Agents to enter.

"Now then, do you have a picture of Cody from right before he disappeared?" Cruz asked, looking around the apartment with interest.

"Um yeah, but we already gave the police a couple…"

"We're here to help find Cody, Mr. Martin, your cooperation would be greatly appreciated," Cruz replied. Zack bit his tongue at the verbal back lashing he'd gotten and went over to the little monument his mother had constructed, selecting the picture that most closely resembled his brother as he'd seen him hours prior and handed it over to the Agent.

"Zack, we believe that your brother was kidnapped by some really bad people. Do you know of anyone who would want to hurt or use him in any way?" Ramirez asked, looking over Cruz's shoulder at the picture of Cody.

"No," He answered truthfully, unable to think of anyone he'd met who might have ill intentions for the younger twin.

"Did anything, out of the ordinary happen before he vanished? Something that broke the normal routine?" Lopez wondered, walking over and examining the little monument of Cody.

"Uh, come to think of it we did get evaluated by some psychiatrist dude who seemed very interested in Cody just before he vanished," Zack answered, wondering how he had forgotten to tell the police that little tidbit of information. Cruz looked up with decided interest.

"Do you remember the name of this psychiatrist and where he worked? Could you describe him well enough that we could have one of our people do a sketch of him?"

"Sorry I don't remember… Uh, I might be able to help with a sketch," Zack answered, getting excited at the prospect of a new lead in the case of Cody's disappearance.

"We would welcome your help on that, it might help us find your brother," Cruz said thoughtfully. Zack didn't like the way he'd said that though, he couldn't readily explain it to himself, but there was something odd about it.

"Now for the most important question," Lopez said as he rejoined his fellow agents, "Have you had any contact, any at all, with your brother recently?" Zack was about to answer truthfully, leaving out the part about the shooting, but something made him hesitate. Some sixth sense was screaming at him that something wasn't right. His eyes were drawn to the Cruz's suit coat, more specifically to a small gold lapel pin that he wore. It was crafted in the serpentine shape of a dragon. Alarm bells started going off in his head as his father's warning came back to him.

"You're the Dragon Order aren't you?" Zack blurted out before he could stop himself. His father had told him to stay away from these people. He started backing away from them and circling towards the front door, taking Kurt Martin's dire warning to heart. Were these the same people who had kidnapped Cody? Ramirez moved to block access to the door and Zack was trapped in his own residence.

"You just had to go and spoil it didn't you Zachary?" Cruz sighed in annoyance.

"What do you want with my brother?"

"Your father is Kurt Martin?" Lopez asked. Zack could only nod, "That is not his real name. We've been looking for that traitor for a long time, though we no longer care about him now."

"What are you talking about? My dad is just the lead singer of his little band, he travels around several states…"

"The perfect cover," Lopez snorted.

"Zachary, your father is one of the most powerful Seekers of our time, but we don't really need them. They're the most common of the gifted, a dime a dozen as they say. We're more interested in his children. The Order hopes that you and your brother have the same potential as your father, but possess the more rare gifts." Ramirez explained, earning a frown from Lopez when he spoke of Seekers being a dime a dozen.

"What does this crap have to do with Cody?"

"We believe someone already found your brother and kidnapped him in order to use his gift. This would indicate that Cody probably possess one of the more potent gifts, hopefully those of the Illusionist."

"That's what Cody said he was…" Zack accidentally thought aloud. He cursed himself the moment it had slipped out of his mouth. The fake agents all turned hungry looks upon him.

"He did, did he? And when did Cody say this?" Cruz asked, going in for the kill.

"I'm not answering any more questions."

"Oh you will be Zachary, and now you're coming with us."

"Like hell I am!" Zack shouted, his hands balling into fists. Cruz shrugged and all of the sudden Zack felt himself unable to move, a strange pressure pushing against his body from every direction at once. The room faded away and he was left standing in a dark void with the three men. He would have gaped in shock if he could. How was this happening? Ramirez was grinning at the surprise evident in the teen's widened eyes.

"We're going to see if you possess a gift too Zachary, hopefully you're not a mere ordinary person. If you are though…we can still use you to get to Cody," Cruz chuckled, walking around behind him. The other two men lead the way out of the room, a door appearing in the void suddenly and to his surprise Zack felt himself walking after them, his movements awkward but effective nonetheless.

"You'd like to have my gift wouldn't you Zack? Telekinesis is quite powerful," Cruz taunted from behind him, "But the ability to trick and deceive people en masse like Illusionists can, well that power if even more entertaining still!"

* * *

**A/N:** Wow! A lot in this chapter! Another class of gifted named, now we have Illusionists and Seekers, with the remaining unnamed class using telekinesis. Zack learns some of the ugly truth about his father's past as he is captured by the Dragon Order who is also looking for Cody. What will happen to the twins now? Speculate away! See you in the next chapter!

Also, in case you were wondering, the fake agents who came to get Zack were all gifted. Cruz obviously has the same power as Donald and Tristan, Ramirez is one of the ultra rare Illusionists himself and Lopez a Seeker. Putting this kind of team on the trail of the twins means that someone somewhere is heavily interested in Zack and Cody now doesn't it?

Thanks for reading!


End file.
